


Encounters

by sapphireLavender



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: A lot of them are drabbles, Alternate Universe, Canon Universe, F/F, F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, M/M, Platonic Female/Male Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-01 14:25:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 18,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10191950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphireLavender/pseuds/sapphireLavender
Summary: Inuyasha one-shots (occasionally with sequels) of romantic or platonic relationships. (AUs and canon universe) I will sometimes do requests if I find them interesting.





	1. Companion (Kanna X Shiori)

**Author's Note:**

> Some one-shots of pairings I think would be good. First one is short, next might be longer.  
> Kanna/Shiori.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She never thought she'd feel anything, and even if it was small, she definitely felt something

She couldn't understand, she couldn't feel.

She was empty, and she could not form an opinion on that.

Step by step, she walked the ground underneath her feet, listening to the sound of her very own footsteps.

Kanna stopped, and decided to take a moment to appreciate her surroundings. Well, _try_ to.

She noticed she had stumbled to a village, the sound of children laughing and playing filled her ears.

' _How curious, the simple things that make them joyful._ ' She thought, ' _Inquiring. Such a pointless activity, yet they are delighted._ '

She wondered for a moment withever or not she should take their souls, but she remained from a distance, watching as the human children continued their pointless exercise.

Kanna stood, staring aimlessly at the children.

Pointless creatures, but they did have something she would never.

Kanna almost wished she could join in, run around and laugh; yet the emptiness she felt quickly destroyed that thought.

One of the children stopped playing, and noticed Kanna.

"I'll be right back." She heard the child say faintly, as the child began walking into her direction.

Kanna noticed that this child was not human like the others were, and wondered what gave her the idea she was.

"Hello." The young girl said, "I'm Shiori!"

She held out her hand, and Kanna felt obligated to take it.

"..What's your name?" Shiori asked.

"I am Kanna." She answered, taking notes on the girls' appearance.

Sliver hair with small bows in it and her eyes were purple.

"Kanna," Shiori giggled, "That's a pretty name."

For a moment, Kanna thought she felt something.

"Thank you." She replied quietly, wishing not to be rude.

"You're welcome." Shiori said, "Do you want to come play, Kanna?"

"No thank you, Shiori." Kanna replied, "I would rather watch."

Shiori smiled widely, "How about watching the sunset near the water? It's real pretty." _Like you._ Shiori was tempted to add.

Kanna didn't understand why, but the offer seemed nice.

Shiori offered her hand, and Kanna took it.

The girl led Kanna to the water and sat down, inviting Kanna to sit next to her.

Kanna listened to the sound of the laughing children as they continued their game, glancing at the ocean blankly.

"It's pretty, right?"

Kanna turned her head to glance at Shiori.

"I suppose." Her tone remained empty.

"Hm.." _Kanna must have a lovely smile._

Shiori looked for a subject to talk about, not caring much for the silence as the kids returned to their homes.

"Do you have a home?" Shiori asked, almost concerned the girl did not.

"If you could call it that." Her voice remained emotionless.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes."

"Older, younger, sisters, brothers?" Shiori seemed to be either extremely curious, or just extremely fascinated by Kanna, "Do you get along with them?"

"I am the eldest. I have but one sister at the moment. Our relationship is decent."

Shiori felt like she wanted to know every detail about Kanna. She didn't even know why.

"...What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Your family. Your home. Tell me."

Shiori smiled, and Kanna felt a little less empty.

She learned a lot about Shiori, yet somehow she felt as though she learned more about herself.

As the sun was barely visible now, there was very little light to see the girl in.

"Shiori!" A young woman called.

"Oh," Shiori responded quickly, "It's my mom. I have to go."

Kanna silently wished she could stay.

"But I will see you again, I hope." The half-demon girl says, "Goodbye, Kanna."

"Farewell." She says back, watching as the girl left.

' _Yes... We will see each other again.'_


	2. Flames (Soten X Rin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin makes a friend.

Rin wondered to herself when Lord Sesshomaru would be back, watching the flames of her campfire. She wished that at least Jaken had stayed..

She laid back against her two-headed dragon companion, Ah-Un.

Rin stared at the flames, watching as it looked particularly red.

' _Red is a nice colour._ ' Rin thought to herself, picturing various different things that were red.

Rin decided to make a game out of it, ' _Hm.. Lord Sesshomaru's outfit has some red on it.. So does Inuyasha's..._ '

Rin remembered the girl who travelled with Inuyasha, who wore strange clothing that included the red.

She continued wondering about things that were red, but she was running out of ideas.

Standing up, she went to go catch fish to cook.

There was some water close by, and she hoped to find fish.

She walked in the direction, a short distance, leaving Ah-Un to watch the fire. Ah-Un was responsible enough.

The gentle sound of her feet entering the nearby pond went unnoticed by her, yet not by a young demon.

"Huh?" A young voice said, and a faint sound of movement was heard.

Rin was just about to reach down and grab a fish, but the noise distracted her.

"Hm?" She stared.

"Who are you?" The young child asked, staring down and taking notes on Rin.

' _She looks easy to overpower.. Kind of cute.._ ' The child thought, a small blush across her cheeks.

"Me? I am Rin!" Rin exclaimed joyfully, attempting to grab a fish, "What's your name?"

"Soten." She said, moving a bit closer, having previously backed away.

' _Childish. Unlikely to be quite as smart as I am.. But I suppose it would be hard._ '

Rin didn't seem to know who she was dealing with, as she got out of the water and used some rocks as a passage across the lake.

"What are these?" Rin asked, noticing Soten's little treasures on the ground, beside her paper.

Soten quickly snatched them out of Rin's view, "Nothing!"

"Oh. Okay."

Soten assumed the girl to be human, and wondered why she was so fearless.

"You seem unafraid. Do you underestimate me?"

"Huh?" Rin asked, "Should I be afraid?"

"Yes! I am Soten, of the Thunder brothers tribe, and the last remaining! I am a strong demon!" Soten exclaimed, "Do you not fear demons?"

"Nope." Replied the human, carelessly.

"..." Soten was speechless.

After a small moment of thinking to something to say, Soten said the first thing she could think of,

"Why not?"

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you afraid of demons? You are human, right?"

"Mhm! I'm scared of some demons, but you haven't given me any reason to be afraid, right?" The girl says, "You don't really look scary, as you are no bigger than Rin."

Soten blushed, unsure of how to reply.

"But I am scary! I am a strong demon!"

"Are you going to attack me?" Rin questioned.

"...N-no.. I don't plan on it." Soten said, blushing harder. ' _Maybe if you weren't such a cute human.._ '

"Then I'd find that comforting." The girl stood up, and walked back to the water.

Soten watched the cute girl catch some fish.

"I should get back to Ah-Un, if you want to come for a bit." Rin offers.

"..Sure."

She follows the young girl across the water, almost slipping on the rocks.

Rin leads her to a campfire, with a two-headed dragon demon sitting next to it.

"I'm back, Ah-Un." She says.

' _She's not even afraid of that.._ ' Soten thinks to herself.

She continues to observe, as the girl cooks the fish she caught.

"Want one?" Rin offers, giving Soten a fish.

"..Sure. Thank you." She says, taking the fish. She takes a small moment to congratulate herself on remembering her manners.

As they eat the fish, not a word is spoken.

That is, of course, until Rin breaks the silence.

"Red!"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes are red. I just noticed that. Wow, they are really pretty, too."

Soten was glad there wasn't a follow-up comment about her face being red.


	3. Promise (Ayame X Kagura)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ayame finds someone better than Koga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had absolutely no ideas for this pairing.

Kagura didn't think she could be happy.

Every day was just a reminder she was a servant, and she'd never be free.

But one day, she did stumble upon something close.

It appeared in the form of a wolf demon, who was sitting with some white wolves.

Upon further inspection, it was a female. She noticed she had red pigtails and shimmering green eyes.

Kagura wished to gaze at her for longer, but she seemed observant; quickly picking up her scent.

The wolf quickly stood up, alerting the wolves sitting beside her.

"Who's there?" She asked, and guessed, "Naraku?"

Kagura opened her fan, stepping out. ' _Oh well, if she wants to fight, at least I can continue admiring her._ '

Ayame looked surprised when met with Kagura.

"Yo."

"Huh? Who are you?"

Kagura noticed a small bit of blush on the girl's cheeks. She smiled, "Hello, I am Kagura. I presume you are Ayame."

"Kagura? You smell exactly like that hair demon.." She wondered how Kagura knew her name.

"Hair demon?"

"If you smell like that hair demon, then you smell like Naraku..!"

"Naraku, huh? I do get that quite a bit."

"I wonder why." Ayame spoke, sarcastically.

"I suppose because I am his incarnation." She voiced, bitterly.

"Then I'll just have to destroy you." Ayame prepared to attack.

"Because I'm an incarnation of Naraku?" Kagura questioned, "You should know, me and Naraku are very different people."

"Are you? I bet you're just as sadistic.." She trailed off.

"Hardly. If I could, I'd flee from Naraku as fast as possible.."

"Then why don't you?" Ayame inquired, stepping towards Kagura.

"Because unfortunately, Naraku holds my life in his hands." She says carelessly, "If he's killed, I'll be free. Until then, I better make myself useful or I won't live to see the day."

Ayame felt a bit of pity for the woman.

"So.. You want nothing to do with him?"

"Who would?"

Ayame smiled, "Then, perhaps, we could skip being enemies."

"Oh? I've never heard that before."

"Has nobody ever wanted to be your friend?" Ayame questioned, sitting down and gesturing for Kagura to join her.

"No," Kagura said sitting down, "Naraku mostly has enemies. My closest friend is my elder sister."

Ayame laughed a bit, "I guess all the boys you meet would want to be more though, right?"

She raised an eyebrow, "No, why would they?"

Ayame looked surprised, "Well, cause you're so pretty.." she turned her head away, as to hide her blush.

"First time I've heard that.." Kagura mumbled, "So how many boys want to be more than your friend?"

She frowned, "Not many.. Koga promised me marriage, but not he's going back on his promise.. He completely forgot."

"He forgot?"

Ayame nodded, "When I told Kagome, the one he loves, she said it was super romantic.."

"I'll take her word for it. Sounds like a jerk."

Ayamed nodded, blushing, "But my grandpa really wants me to get married. If he's in love with someone else, even if it's one-sided..."

"So find someone else."

"What?"

"Marry someone else. If he forgot, is he really worth your time?"

Ayame frowned, blushing, "I've held that promise closely to me all these years.."

"But he hasn't."

"Where would I even find someone willing to marry me?"

Kagura smirked, "Maybe one day, I'd be able to."

She laughed when Ayame blushed more.

"Really?" Ayame asked, "Would that be a promise?"

"Promise it is. If one day, I am free, I will marry with you." Kagura promised, "Besides, I'd be of more use than Koga. He's got two jewel shards and he still can't beat me, not even if I'm putting in little to no effort.."

Ayame chuckled at that.

"Very well than, Kagura. When you're free, we'll be together.

Ayame kissed her, and for once,

Kagura had a idea of what freedom felt like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any requests, I might do them.  
> Just fluff though.


	4. Itazura na Kiss (Yura X Abi)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yura had other things to do than wait for a jewel that was cast out of the world. Very, very important things..

"That hair is _stunning_. Is it soft as feathers?"

Whatever Abi was prepared for, it was certainly not that. She locked eyes with the one of whom spoke.

Redish pink eyes stared back. Quite pretty, you could say.

She did not speak back to the demon, who had barely visible strands of hair locked around her fingers. Abi had no idea where she came from, but she assumed it came from one of those demons she fought a couple days ago. A few got away, and in return, a few demons and humans alike came after her. She supposed that this, was just another.

"Well? Are you ignoring me? I asked a question, _princess_."

Abi looked calmly at the demon, a smirk on her face, "I suppose you'll never know."

The woman standing before her remained completely calm, as though this was all part of her plan, "Is that what you think? You're awfully impolite for a princess, aren't you?"

"I have _no_ reason to explain withever or not my _hair_ is _soft_ to the likes of you."

"Don't you, princess?"

"Abi."

"Huh?"

The demon smirked, "Are we on a first name basis, Princess _Abi_?" she laughed, "Well, then you should know the name is Yura."

" _Yura.._ " Abi repeated quietly

" _But you won't live to remember it!_ "

Yura attempted to strike Abi with her hair collection, but the bird demon dodged.

"Hold still, princess. I wouldn't want to damage that _pretty hair_ of yours," Yura moved into a better position, and considered a different approach, "After all.. It's very shiny. I will find out if it's soft, too. And it's so long..!"

Abi flew higher, and shot fire from her hands, which ignited the hair.

Yura made a noise of discomfort, "How dare you! Stop moving!"

The princess smirked, "Give me a reason to."

Blinking, Yura wondered what the princess could mean, "Hm. So I can kill you?"

Abi smiled, "Okay." She stopped trying to dodge.

' _Just like that?'_ _Yura thought, 'Hm. Time to try my new plan._ '

Barely visible strands of hair held up the Benigasumi, which was swung at Abi.

The girl flew slightly up, as though she knew everything Yura would try.

"Now, that was rather _impolite_ , wasn't it, Yura?" She laughed, "Trying to kill someone you don't even know?"

Yura crossed her arms, "Won't you just die? That hair would be a wonderful addition.. I'll take your skull, too, if that makes you feel better."

"Ha. You underestimate me. I would never allow that."

"I never said anything about you allowing it, princess."

They stared into each others eyes for a moment, unsure of what to say next. As luck would have it, they didn't need to.

"Abi!"

She did not move, automatically recognising the distance voice.

"Hm. I don't have time to waste here, Yura." The princess flew higher, "So don't take my mercy for granted."

"Hm! I wouldn't _ever waste my time_ here with a coward." The other replied, "I wouldn't ever come for you, it's your hair I wanted!"

Despite what she said, Yura did return. The hair was only one reason why.

Maybe some things were as good as hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's name after the ending theme.


	5. Stone Flower (Satsuki X Koume)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wishing for things never worked, so she never tried it anymore. Miracles may happen to others, but they'd never happen to her. Until one did... But can she find it in her heart to love?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was originally gonna be its own story. But it does not interest me at all.

A cold, unwelcoming air brushed against her skin as she struggled to navigate through the darkness of the cave. She found little comfort in the sounds of her feet stepping through the tall water.

She gripped her kimono tightly, hoping to keep it as dry as possible. She wasn't entirely sure if that was possible, as the water dripped from the ceiling.

Pushing through forcefully, she came upon a higher area, free of water. She scrambled to get on, giving up all hopes of keeping her kimono clean and dry.

Stumbling, Satsuki continued her path, the only sound she could hear being her damp feet making contact with the cold stone.

Unsure withever or not that was a good thing, she focused on all of her sense in case there were any demons in the cave.

It seemed that luck was on her side today, as she found what appeared to be an exit. She squeezed herself through, and gazing outside.

It was night. She wondered briefly how long she'd been in the cave, and struggled to remember how she got in there in the first place.

Satsuki figured it had been a few hours at the very least. Stepping away from the cave, she thought it appropriate to make camp.

Finding the wood and lighting a fire was easy, and while she wasn't exactly safe, she figured she wasn't exactly in danger either. She's survived this long after all, hasn't she?

She stared in the flame, her body temperature now a lot warmer.

Turning her gaze to the spots next to her, she frowned. It did get lonely sometimes, but she didn't mind.

She was used to being on her own. It had just been her and her big brother, until he died and it was just her again. But she had refused to accept it.

Remembering the day she finally did, she recalled the kitsune who rescued her from the demon that was impersonating her brother. She hadn't seen him in years, and assumed her forgot all about her. The kitsune, Shippo, probably had other girls to save.

She was grateful, though. She wasn't a great person back then, but now she's changed for the better. Or, she hoped so.

Putting the fire out, she curled up and fell asleep.

* * *

She was awoken by a noise in the distance. She rubbed her eyes gently.

Looking up, it was daylight now. She guessed fairly early.

Standing up, Satsuki listened carefully for the source that awoke her.

Growls and roars filled the air from a distance, and sounded as though it was only coming closer.

She attempted to figure out which direction it was coming from, so that she could run in the opposite. However, time was not on her side today.

A large spider demon appeared, and at the immediate sight, she ran for her light immediately.

It seemed to sense she was easy prey, as it launched webs to block her path. She suspected they could be poisonous, and ducked very carefully under them. It marched up towards her with ease, no matter how fast she ran.

She stumbled and tripped in an attempt to dodge a spider web, only for her leg to be a _little_ too close to the left. It hardly made contact with the web, but a burning sensation went through her body as though she swallowed the poisonous web whole.

Satsuki cried out, though she knew well that no one would hear her.

She was frozen in fear. That kitsune wasn't there to save her.

No one was, and she couldn't save herself.

She barely registered what was happening until she heard the screech of the spider, a bell and the sound of claws sinking into flesh.

Blinking, Satsuki sat up forcefully and looked to see what happened.

A small, twin-tailed cat stood upon the demon, which was now crying out. It mewed. She noticed there was a collar around its neck.

"Good job, Kuroro!" A soft voice called out, rushing closer. It belonged to a small human girl, around sixteen years old. She had a sword in her hand, a smile on her face and her hair in pigtails.

The spider demon turned to the girl, and backed up. The girl smiled, and rushed in and slashed it.

She cheered as the spider fell to the ground, except that was when she noticed Satsuki.

Her face twisted into that of concern as she rushed over to the maiden. Kuroro followed behind.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Satsuki wondered what the answer to that question was. Had she ever been okay to begin with? She shook her head.

The slightly older girl examined the injured leg, and pulled some medical equipment out of her outfit.

"Here," She said, carefully applying something to cure the poison, and gently wrapping the injury up, "All done."

Satsuki blinked, "T... Thanks."

"I'm Koume, by the way," She offered her hand, carefully helping Satsuki up.

"Koume..." Satsuki repeatedly quietly, "I'm Satsuki."

The girl smiled widely, "Do you live by here?"

She shook her head, relying purely on Koume to stand.

"Hm. Okay. I'll take you back to my village for now, then."

Not a word was said as she was brought to Koume's village.


	6. Yura Yura (Kagura X Ayame)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU drabble Kagura/Ayame.

She stared off into the distance, throwing all troubles away.

Red hair flowing behind her, she'd shed no tears.

She twirled, the wind dancing around her as she pushed the bangs out of her eyes.

Ayame would hold tightly to her hopes. Her dreams, that someday Koga would love _her_ , not some _other girl_. A promise was a promise, wasn't it?

Even if it meant nothing to him...

"Are you daydreaming again, Ayame?" A familiar voice popped up, "You really should just forget about _him_."

Ah, Kagura. She knew her so well.

The highschooler stood behind her, against a tree.

"When did you get here?"

The other smirked, "A little while ago. Did you think the breeze was naturally this perfect?"

Ayame laughed, "I think it's far from perfect."

Kagura looked shocked, "How dare you."

She giggled, a small blush on her face almost entirely invisible.

"Well, are you coming inside, then?" The girl gestured to the door, "I just got a new necklace, if you're interested."

"Heh. Why not?"

Fluttering past them, birds would soar into the sky freely, as a moment of tranquil formed a place in their memories and hearts.

Wherever the world would take them, they'd go.

They'd laugh, they'd love and they would fly.

Freedom was a treasure, and they'd hold tightly to it. Hold tightly to love and friendship, afraid to let go.

Every moment a piece of a puzzle coming together. Plans weren't always meant to succeed, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

They'd hold on tight.


	7. Sleepover (Koga X Inuyasha)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha moved to a new town after getting a new job too far away from his old home to walk. His neighbour sure was something..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Platonic Inuyasha & Kagome, Platonic Kagome & Koga.

He did not plan to start the morning this way.

Inuyasha moved towns after finding a new job. He didn't expect to have _literally_ the _worst_ neighbour in the entire world.

He had such a stupid dog, too. It wasn't even trained well. Kept growling and barking at him from the fenced-in yard whenever he walked past.

But for some reason, Kagome, _liked_ this guy. He was under the impression Kagome was his friend! What a traitor.. That guy was the exact definition of a wolf, and everyone knew, that wolves were _inferior_ to dogs, like himself. Why'd anyone be friends with _him_?

"Maybe you two should talk it out?" Kagome suggested, unpacking groceries she bought for him. She was like a roommate who didn't live with him.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Inuyasha asked, "Wolf-boy is outright annoying, I don't need to know him to know that."

"You shouldn't judge someone before meeting them," Kagome crossed her arms disapprovingly, "At least give him a chance."

"Keh."

"Please?"

"Not on your life."

"Sit."

Inuyasha forgot how cold and unwelcoming the floor was.

"Fine!" Inu sat up, "Just stop doing that."

"Sure, sure." Kagome had an innocent smile that said 'no promises'. Oh, how she could be so _annoying_ at some times..

Begrudgingly, Inuyasha was brought to meet Koga.

"Hi, Koga!" Kagome greeted cheerfully, "I brought Inuyasha."

"Sup, Inutrasha."

"Koga, his name is Inuyasha!" She seemed unusually upset about this, "We've talked about this.."

"Whatever." Koga rolled his eyes, hands on his hips.

"Wolf boy, let it be known that _I_ wouldn't wanna be within ten feet of you." He growled, "Kagome, you're only proving my point."

"Inuyasha, please."

"Well that's good _mutt-face_ , because you reek like dogs. If I weren't so polite, I'd kick you off my property."

"I do not!"

"You're right, that'd be an insult to canines," Koga smirked, "You're _much_ worse."

"I'll show you whose worse," Inuyasha pulled down his sleeve, ready to fight.

"You, obviously. You smell worse than my dog!" It wasn't a lie, as his dog did not smell at all.

"You're on, _wolf breath_."

"Guys, please.."

"Alright. I'll take you any day, _puppy._ "

"Inuyasha, sit."

The ground wasn't much better than his floor. Kagome dragged him back home.

"Let's try that some other time.."

"How about no?"

"Inuyasha..." She warned in a low voice, similar to a growl.

"Keh, fine." He backed up.

The next time didn't go well, either.

Kagome seemed to refuse to give up. This time, she got them inside of _wolf cub's_ house. Hayashi Koga had the worst decoration ever, and a strange obsession with wolves.

That stupid, stupid Akita inu kept trying to attack him. It was fond of Kagome, though, and wouldn't hurt her.

"He thinks you're danger, mutt-face." Koga grabbed the dog and guided it to the door to his yard, "Come on, Yuki."

"Keh, then you should listen to him." Inuyasha growled, "I could take you any day."

"You're really persistent on starting a fight you can't finish, aren't you, mutt?" Koga crossed his legs and leaned against the wall, "Kagome, if you ever need someone better.. Come to me right away."

Inuyasha pulled up his sleeves once more, "Pesky wolf."

"Inuyasha, Koga.. Can't you two just get along?" 'Y _ou're more alike than you're both willing to admit_ '.

Kagome didn't try again after that. She seemed busy trying to cooperate with her new gloomy roommate, Kikyo.

The next time, however, was on Inuyasha's own accord.

He set his house on fire unintentionally (he suspected some greater force was at work, perhaps Renkotsu?), and the only one in this town he knew was Koga.

Kagome was miles away and he didn't have a car. He regretted that factor and took note to retake his drivers test.

By the time the firemen arrived, it was no longer habitable for him. He called Kagome, but she told him to swallow his pride. Well, more threatened..

At first, the wolf laughed.

"You want to stay with me?"

"Keh. Just for the night. My house isn't liveable and Kagome's too far away." His pride threatening to shatter entirely, "She suggested it." He lied.

Koga was his thought before going to Kagome. It just made more sense. It was late, and Koga was near.

Not that he'd ever, _ever, **ever**_ admit it.

"Alright, mutt. You can stay the night." He agreed, "Anything for Kagome."

But the stay was extended, for many reasons. Kagome didn't have room, Miroku had at least nine thousand girlfriends, and Sango was far too busy.

Soon, Koga's dog - Yuki, he learned, grew rather attached to him. He was no longer a stranger, and the dog was rather affectionate to him.

Inuyasha did his fair share as for staying in Koga's house - he tidied up and took care of Yuki when he was there.

Koga was thinking Kagome was right about getting to know people. Inuyasha was slightly more tolerable. Though, that didn't mean he had to like him. Just meant he didn't want to kill him as badly as he had beforehand.

I mean, he still did, but not as much.

"Sup, mutt-face." Koga greeted as Inu _trasha_ got home from work. Rather than the way he used to say it, he said it more as an affectionate nickname.

"Wolf cub," They really seemed to favour those nicknames. "Yuki." He greeted the snow-white akita.

He licked his hand briefly. Inuyasha pet him gently, having a soft spot for animals.

A week later, Inuyasha officially moved in as his roommate. Koga always planned on getting a roommate, but he wasn't sure if Yuki would get along with one. Akita were quiet and hard to read.

"Now that you live here, do you want the spare bedroom?" Koga offered, "Might as well actually have a room."

Inuyasha was rather flattered by his previous archenemy offering him an actual room, "Keh, why not?"

In their own way, their relationship grew. Very, very slowly.

One night, everything took a change. For the better or worse.

It took Koga longer than he was proud to admit that his feelings to himself.

"Hey, mutt?"

"Keh, what'd want, wolf?"

Koga turned extremely gentle, "I'm gonna make you my man."

Inuyasha fell off his seat, "What?"

"Didn't you hear me, pup?" Koga didn't take into consideration that Inuyasha might not return these feelings.

"What do you mean by that?"

Actions speak louder to Inuyasha. The guy would never admit anything to himself.

Their lips met, which seemed to get the message through his head.

Kagome had no idea how well her plan worked. Though, she soon found out.

Nothing could ever take the grin off her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little rushed, but I've basically never written these characters. Especially Koga.  
> I wanted to get it up tonight. InuKog is a good pairing.  
> Which is why it'll appear alongside KagSan in my Inuyasha rewrite with more Kikyo.  
> I definitely plan to write more of this in the future. Possibly alongside Ginta/Hakkaku.


	8. Speechless (Yura X Abi)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was a lot of things she wanted to say, but she couldn't seem to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poetry switches from Abi to Yura. In that order.  
> This chapter also contains character death.

_There's so many things to learn,_

_say and do, but none quite unique._

_We could stay._

_We can pretend._

_There's so much we won't realise until the very end._

_But that's just the fun of it._

_For eternity,_

_We'll stay like this, unchanging._

Yura was definitely a bit of a liar, Abi learned.

She said she wouldn't come around a coward, and yet was constantly hanging around her.

She said it was because Abi had nice hair, but they both knew that wasn't why.

Yura seemed to have taken a liking to her. Normally, she wouldn't care much about how someone felt about her, but the hair demon proved to be quite useful.

Abi didn't really need to fight much with Yura about. The girl would obliterate useless enemies. Saved the princess a lot of time, anyway.

That was reason enough to keep her around.

_**If I were to disappear,** _

_**would you call out?** _

_**Would you try to reach me?** _

_**Or would you forget entirely?** _

_**My heart yearns to know.** _

Abi's hair was a mess. Yura could not believe it.

"Please?" Yura begged and pleaded, "You're a princess, you can't be seen like this!"

The other merely rolled her eyes, "I can be seen however I want." She untied her messy hair, "But if it means that much to you, then you can."

The hair demon cheered, grabbed her favourite comb and getting into a good position.

Abi sat on a rock, comfortably. Soon, she felt the somewhat calming sensation of the comb through her hair.

Yura managed to be gentle and harsh at the same time. On her watch, not a single hair would be damaged.

As the girl finished up, every hair was neatly combed.

"Very soft," Yura commented as she carefully picked up the hair to tie it like Abi wore it, "You should take better care of it."

There was so much more to say, yet no voice to speak with.

_Don't hold onto false hope,_

_Fantasy and reality circle us._

_I'd never guess these feelings would mean more._

There were things you only learned to appreciate by hanging around hair demons.

Yura wasn't here today, and hadn't been in a while, so she wanted to give her a nice welcome.

Her opponent had silky blue hair, and it looked wonderful. She knew her beloved would appreciate it.

Sending the birds, she conveniently avoiding the nice hair. As her opponent fell, she sent one of her birds to get a ribbon and knife from a nearby village. She didn't care where they got it from, as she was concerned merely with the thought of Yura's wonderful smile.

She waited with the corpse for her birds to return.

Eventually, they did.

Abi took the knife and brought it carefully against the cyan hair, getting almost all of it. The hair was quite long, too, so it was rather difficult.

She gaithered up the strands and tied them with the ribbon, a few strands falling.

She smiled, "Yura will love this hair."

**_It may not be the best time,_ **

**_But I've wanted to tell everything,_ **

**_I've felt since I met you._ **

**_There was so much more I wanted to say,_ **

**_but I let it slip away._ **

Abi wondered what it was about Yura she loved so dearly.

Something within her loved it when Yura would laugh or smile. She'd let the girl play with her hair just to see it. She noticed, after all, that when hair was no longer attached to something, it was a lot harder to stylise. Yura didn't seem to mind, though.

She stared at the clump of hair she held, tied with a ribbon.

Gifts weren't something she commonly would give, especially not to just anyone.

How did she go from Yura being her opponent, to Yura being her beloved? She cared for her more than she was used to.

Whatever the reason, she supposed, didn't matter.

As long as she could see her happy.

_I'll never forget._

_So much regret filled my heart that day._

_If I could go back,_

_I'd fix it._

_I'd do everything again._

_If I could._

A sinking feeling devoured her whole.

' _Yura's... Dead?_ '

She didn't know why she was surprised, she hadn't seen Yura in forever.

Abi had been growing impatient, and had sent her birds to find her love.

What they found, though, was a pile of skulls and a red comb.

She was overwhelmed with emotions. Her heart overflowing with anguish.

There was nothing she could do about it, and that hurt most.

**_I always spoke so freely,_ **

**_unafraid to voice my thoughts._ **

**_But there were some things I couldn't put into words._ **

**_I was unused to such,_ **

**_to feel as though there's more to admire than hair._ **

She stared at the comb in her hand.

"Yura.." She leaned against the very rock that held many memories, "It can't be true.."

No corpse, though it was curious as to if Yura had one.

She placed the comb where her heart would lie, "I love you... I _loved_ you!"

Her words were unheard.

_For you, I'll stay the same._

_If none of these words are heard, it's okay._

_If nothing else, you'll be in my heart and memories._

_If that's the only place I'll find you,_

_I'll hold tight and never let go._

A small, red comb was placed next to a bundle of long blue hair, tied neatly with a ribbon.

"I never got to give this to you," Abi managed to say, "Such lovely hair couldn't be passed up on.." She forced a small laugh.

The realisation hit her that she'd never get to see Yura smile again.

Or Yura do anything, really.

Uninvited tears sprinkled down her face.

She pressed a finger to her cheeks, ' _I've.. never felt so sad.._ '

**_For me, stay the same,_ **

**_I know you won't hear me, but keep in mind._ **

**_This isn't goodbye, I'll say for fact,_ **

**_I'll find a way._ **

**_Keep me in mind, I want you to remember me always._ **

**_My princess._ **

She stood up, and assigned herself a task, a goal.

Avenge her beloved Yura.

"Find out who did this," She ordered her birds, flicking the water off her face.

No matter what it took.

In the end, she may fail. She may not get the chance.

Her birds would return without knowledge time and time again.

But revenge was the only thing to keep her mind off of it.

Until her mother ate a poisonous spider. She sent the birds to gather human blood.

Human blood, that would cure it.

The thought of losing someone again was not ideal.

She didn't know how soon she'd meet her beloved again.

But she didn't care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write this pairing again..
> 
> I wanted to add in Abi's reaction to Yura's death cause.. That'd be sad. But I don't think demon's experience tragedy the same way as humans..
> 
> Also, getting a bundle of hair is probably the equivalent of getting a bouquet of flowers. In this situation, anyway.
> 
> I suppose.. Let me know if you have a request or would like to see more of this format.


	9. Making an impression (Kanna X Shiori)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanna gets ready to see Shiori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble, AU. Older Kanna (she's fifteen, Kagura's twelve).

Kanna brushed her long, white hair. She looking in one of her many mirrors.

She placed two flower hairclips on each side of her head. Perfection.

She twirled in her new dress, and smiled.

' _I wonder if Shiori will notice?_ ' She thought, a small blush on her face. She looked at her reflection, staring at her eyes. ' _Should I put on make-up?_ '

Kanna took out some eye-shadow and looked down at it. She decided to try it, and carefully put it on.

She smiled at the results. She had to look her best if she was going to ask Shiori to the festival.

"Kanna?" A young voice asked, "Are you ready yet?"

She turned to her younger sister, Kagura, "Yes."

Kanna grabbed her bag, and smiled.

"Are you wearing make-up?" Kagura asked, "You're really trying to make a good impression, huh?"

"Mhm." She nodded, walking outside with her younger sister.

"Though, I don't really think you _need to._ She's already gonna say yes."

Kanna smiled, "Hopefully." She replied.

' _Hopefully...'_


	10. Story time ( Jaken & Rin )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8-year old Rin was recently adopted by Sesshomaru and his husband, Jaken. A new life is ahead of her.. But for now, it's just time to have some fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little AU drabble.. Not quite happy with how it turned out, but I might make some sequels of this universe. I don't often write Sesshomaru, Rin or Jaken and I don't know their personalities in this AU.  
> Slight Sesshomaru X Jaken.

Rin explored her new house.

The eight-year found it quite lovely. So this was where she was going to live for the rest of her life. She'd only been here two days, so she'd have to look around more. It was quite a big house.

It was decorated nicely. It reminded her of one of those houses you see in movies. She went downstairs, where one of her new fathers was.

"Jaken?" The girl hopped on a chair by the table, as the short guy sat at the table, doing something probably extremely uninteresting.

He turned to her, "Yes, what is it, Rin?"

"I'm bored." She scooted up as close as she could get, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing you would be interested in."

She smiled, "Can you tell me a story?"

Jaken looked at her, "What story?"

"Make one up!" Rin threw her arms up, cheerfully.

"E... Er.. Alright." Jaken looked down to continue what he was doing, "Once upon a time.. There was, uh.. A great dog demon. He was greater than the rest, and very beautiful. He had long, shiny silver hair.. No one could ever defeat him, for he was simply that great! The most intimidating dog demon of all time. Those who crossed his path would not live to tell the tale!"

"Did he have any friends?"

"Err.. He had companions. He needed nothing more than that."

"How about siblings?"

"He had a brother. His brother, however, was no where near his greatness!" Jaken continued, "The great dog demon conquered all who opposed him! No one ever defeated him. He had incredible speed, and poisonous claws!"

Rin listened, with wide eyes. "He sounds cool!"

"Indeed, he was 'cool'. He was the greatest in all of the lands," Jaken looked at Rin, "Are you entertained?"

She nodded, "What else could he do?"

"W.. Well. He had a sword stronger than any.."

He continued for hours, Rin was fascinated. Mostly, because she knew this was obviously a story about her other dad, judging by how much Jaken loved talking about him.

Eventually, Rin did tire of the story, and went to do something else.

Her other dad, Sesshomaru, would be home soon. She didn't know what he did for a living.

She laid on her bed and waited, kicking her feet around for amusement.

Downstairs, she heard Sesshomaru come home. Jaken definitely made that much clear.

Rin ran downstairs to see him.

He noticed her almost immediately, "Hello, Rin." He greeted in a voice with little emotion. He always managed to talk like that.

"Hi, Sesshomaru." She went to hug him, "Jaken told me a story about a great dog demon!"

"Oh?" He picked her up, "Interesting."

"The great dog demon did many things! He said the dog demon was very beautiful, too."

"Ah?" A small smile appeared, barely noticeable. He placed Rin down gently as the girl nodded.

She talked about the story.

"You know, you remind me of the great dog demon from the story." She mentioned, knowing full well Jaken definitely based the character on him. It wasn't hard to tell.

"I wonder why."


	11. Doodles ( Rin & Soten )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin invites a friend over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to write the second part (out of at least four) yet, but I didn't want to write another Abi/Yura so soon, and that's the only thing I've had ideas for.  
> Slight Sesshomaru X Jaken.

Rin hummed a tune, dancing around the house.

Souten was coming over later. She was quite excited for that. Souten was one of her new friends from school. Not to mention she was adorable.

She couldn't wait to show Souten her new drawing supplies and such. Not to mention the family pet two-headed lizard, Ah and Un (Rin even got to name it). Ah-Un was very friendly, although intimidating.

"Rin, your friend is here." Jaken called.

Rin rushed towards the door happily, and was very glad to see Souten inside, "Souten!" She immediately went to hug the girl.

"Hey, Rin."

"Nice to see you made it. Come on." Rin invited the girl to her room. Jaken was cooking, so it was best to stay out of his way. Although she loved him dearly, her father did have a bit of a short temper at times. Sesshomaru, however, even if he was angry.. He almost never let it show.

"Ah, cool! This is your room?" Souten asked, and Rin nodded in reply. "It's so pretty. But only the best for a princess, right? Ha, ha."

' _Princess?_ ' Rin blinked, and decided to nod, despite not knowing what Souten meant.

"Hey, wanna see Ah and Un?" Rin suggested. She planned it out in her mind. First, she'd show Souten Ah-Un, then she'd show her the drawing stuff and they'd draw together. She didn't know that much about Souten yet, but she knew that she liked to draw.

"Okay!" Souten smiled, and Rin lead her to Ah-Un's cage, "Here he is." They both looked into the cage.

"Wow! Is there t... It's got two heads!" Souten grinned, "That's so cool!"

"Yeah! That one's Ah, and that one is Un. Ah-Un." Rin stated cheerfully, pointing to each head, "Do you have a family pet?"

Souten nodded, "Well, sort of. Koryu. He doesn't have two heads, but he tries really hard."

"Aw! Maybe sometime I can come over and meet him?"

Souten blinked, "Sure, but he's not that interesting."

"Hm.." Rin decided to advance the conversation, "Hey, I got some new drawing stuff. Wanna draw?"

"Sure!" The other girl seemed very enthusiastic now.

They made their way back to Rin's room, where Rin pulled out all her new drawing supplies and paper and such, setting it down.

"Wow! This is all really cool."

Rin smiled, and the two began drawing.

Souten drew a cute drawing of a lizard-looking animal, "This is what Koryu looks like."

"He's cute! I like your art style."

Souten smiled, "Thank you, I like yours too."

They continued drawing, and overall had a lot of fun. They exchanged drawings. Until, unfortunately, Souten had to go.

She packed up the drawings and crayons and hugged her friend goodbye.

"Bye! See you tomorrow, Souten." Rin waved.

"Bye, Rin."

As soon as Souten left, Rin left and went to eat dinner with her fathers.

Her first friendship was a success. She'd get to know more about Souten over the years.

Light-hearted conversations and small talk during dinner, and then it's time for homework which Rin was quite happy to do. She was quite good at it, or at least she thought so. Her fathers would help her with questions she couldn't understand.

Afterwards, it was time for bed, and they'd tuck her in and all that.

Life was a lot better now that she had a family again. She thought so, anyways.

Tomorrow would prove to be a new day with different ways to spend it.

She couldn't wait.


	12. Secret Admirer ( Renkotsu X Ginkotsu )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While doing a particularly uninteresting job, Renkotsu awakes one morning to find a poem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this is longer than I expected. Longest yet, probably.

' _This is ridiculous._ ' Renkotsu thought. This job seemed too... easy, in his opinion.

They had been hired as mere demon slayers, with a job so easy they would be done with it by nightfall. In fact, it was so easy, Kyoukotsu himself could handle it alone, and he seemed to be the weakest.

Bankotsu didn't seem to care much for a waste of his time as long as he got paid for it.

The place was nice, though he just about had it with Mukotsu talking about the pretty women. And with Jakotsu's complaining of Mukotsu and the women. And with the two arguing over it until Jakotsu just pushes Mukotsu away with his foot and sighs. The maturity most had in the group was very low.

Bankotsu, the leader, himself seemed a bit immature to Renkotsu. He was the youngest of the group, but Renkotsu remained a bit critical at points.

He was pulled away from his thoughts and silence by Mukotsu, "Hey, Renkotsu. You agree with me about the women, right?"

Renkotsu stared at his comrade with a blank expression. He had no words to reply with.

"Renkotsu no Aniki, don't tell me you agree with Jakotsu.." Mukotsu stared at Renkotsu intensely, awaiting for any reply.

Renkotsu wasn't sure how to reply. It didn't catch him off guard, or it wasn't really awkward. He just had no right reply for this, "Mukotsu, it's best if you don't jump to such conclusions."

Mukotsu walked away and continued to eat his food, probably thinking about the women again.

Renkotsu couldn't help but feel, as he watched his comrades closely, as if he was the most sensible one in the room. Aside from Ginkotsu, the only other one in the room that really had any sense was Suikotsu. Sometimes, it just annoyed him.

He didn't get along particularly with anyone except Ginkotsu. Ginkotsu was a weapon's expert, and he had learned a lot from him since they met. Suikotsu was.. bearable, and Jakotsu was often annoying, while Bankotsu was mostly intimidating. Of course, Kyoukotsu wasn't that bright and Mukotsu was, frankly, creepy even for Renkotsu's standards.

Everyone had finished their meal by the time the demon showed up.

"It's here!" One of the men shouted out in alert.

Bankotsu stood up almost immediately, quickly grabbing his halberd, Banryu, followed by Jakotsu just as quick with his sword.

"Alright, men, let's go." Bankotsu ordered, and everyone quickly grabbed their weapons and rushed to find the demon. Renkotsu stood beside Ginkotsu, and observed his opponent.

It was just a common, unimpressive demon. It had no notable features.

It was gone within a minute.

"Well, so much for that." Jakotsu commented.

"That was quicker than I expected," Bankotsu added, "I would have thought it'd  _at least_  have put up more of a fight."

He turned and walked, turning towards the shocked men to collect the rewards.

Renkotsu wondered why they had even bothered with such a waste of time.

Bankotsu had accepted an offer to stay the night, which made Renkotsu wonder if his plan had been for that to happen or if it was just a coincidence of some sort. He assumed it was the former, though he wasn't entirely sure.

It was hard to really tell.

The night was silent, aside from the wind rushing through the trees and the grass. Everyone seemed to have drifted off quickly, obliviously ignoring the ominous feeling in the air.

In what felt to be a short amount of time, the quietness vanished as they soon woke up.

Renkotsu woke up quickly, perhaps earlier than some of his comrades, and was almost immediately confused by something he noticed wasn't there before. It looked to be a piece of paper, but he swore when he fell asleep it wasn't there.

As he got a closer look, he was immediately confused by it and why it was left in his room.

_Just as the lotus_

_Pretty as a butterfly_

_Fire which burns brightly_

A poem, though he didn't understand why it was left in his room. At first, he wondered or rather hoped that it was a mistake. But it seemed clear that it was aimed at him, rather than someone else. He decided it best to say nothing, forgetting that it existed.

For a moment, he considered asking or telling someone about it.

If he ignored it, it seemed likely that another one might appear. But, as he assumed it was someone from the castle they would be leaving, he decided it wasn't worth the effort of asking everyone in the castle.

It was almost amusing, really.

He left his room, going to find Bankotsu. It seemed he was already preparing to leave, "Ah, Renkotsu. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Good morning to you as well, Bankotsu no Aniki." Renkotsu greeted.

"Right, anyways, I figure we should be heading off soon." Bankotsu stated, "The more progress we make, the better."

"Of course." Renkotsu agreed.

The day progressed as usual. They were to have breakfast and then head off, looking for a new job, which would hopefully be stronger than the last. A woman did give Renkotsu a strange kind of look, but he didn't know what kind as it was Mukotsu who pointed it out to him.

As soon as they all finished eating, they set off again.

The walks were never silent, as silence was a rare occurrence for them all. Bankotsu talked with Jakotsu and Suikotsu quite a bit, and Mukotsu pitched into the conversation. Kyoukotsu laughed at something that was said.

Renkotsu himself dropped into the conversation two or three times.

They hadn't made much distance when they heard a shout, "Demon!"

Turning around, they noticed dark clouds around the house they were at previously. Screams rang out quickly.

"Mercenaries! Help!"

Bankotsu rushed ahead, followed by his 3rd-in-command immediately to the village. Mukotsu, Kyoukotsu and Suikotsu followed alongside Renkotsu and Ginkotsu as they raced towards the village.

Acting quickly, Bankotsu sliced one in half with his halberd, followed by another one within seconds.

Within minutes, the demons were slaughtered, especially after the other six arrived.

"Thank you!" The man said with gratitude, as he handed a reward to the leader, "Please, you must stay another night."

Bankotsu looked at his comrades to see their opinion first.

"Is there any way we can stop these constant attacks? We'll pay you anything!" The man cried with desperation.

"Alright," Bankotsu sighed, "Shouldn't be too hard, should it.. Though perhaps it'd be better to hire a demon slayer."

"We sent someone to hire one, but the village is so far away." The man explained, "We can't fend off these demons by ourselves in the time it takes to arrive."

"How long exactly will it be until they arrive?" Bankotsu asked.

"A day or two, I'm afraid..."

Turning to his comrades and then back to the man, he sighed, "Alright. We'll stay until then."

"Thank you!" The man said, grateful.

Renkotsu wasn't entirely pleased with staying another night, but unfortunately there was no choice. It seemed a waste of time, as it wasn't like any of them actually cared about the people living here.

The place was nice, and it did have decent food, but that didn't make Renkotsu want to leave it any less. It was pointless; boring.

Renkotsu spent most of the day with Ginkotsu, and a good portion was spent watching Jakotsu take apart his weapon to keep it in shape, which seemed far too time-consuming.

Afterwards, Suikotsu asked Renkotsu to help him with a small task. It was finished quickly, and not at all noteworthy.

Despite how long the day felt, it seemed to pass quickly regardless. As they all sat and ate their meal, with many different conversations on, quite a few, unnoteworthy topics such as cute boys, cute girls and a few references to old fights, or just bringing up some old memories.

"I remember that fight," Bankotsu smiled, "That demon was pretty strong, huh?"

"Strong? It barely took any time at all." Suikotsu reminded his leader, "It was the weaker demons that was the problem."

"Right. There was a lot of those, weren't there?"

"Quite a bit."

The conversation remained boring, and Renkotsu mostly just threw in a few sentences time to time. Somehow, he ended up getting thrown into the conversation, which lasted longer than he expected, despite how uninteresting it was.

When they finished their meals, they took the conversation outside and waited for the demons to show up. Like expected, a few demons showed up. Some put up more of a fight than the last.

"They have a problem." Kyoukotsu commented.

Mukotsu looked up at his comrade, "It seems that way."

Jakotsu sighed, clearly bored.

"These demons sure are weak." Bankotsu commented, sitting down beside Jakotsu, "They could  _at least_  come with some friends."

"No kidding." Jakotsu added.

' _This is so pointless,_ ' Renkotsu thought, ' _We shouldn't even waste our time here..._ '

"Renkotsu?" Ginkotsu asked, breaking his thought train.

Renkotsu turned his head, "What is it, Ginkotsu?"

"Gesh. Is something wrong?"

"No, what gave you that impression?"

"You seem tired."

Renkotsu shook his head slowly, "Not at all."

An hour passed before another demon showed up, and after a few more hours they decided to stop and get some rest.

Renkotsu felt relieved. This being an entire day, the demon slayers' would hopefully show up soon, which would mean they could all leave and do something much,  _much_  more interesting.

The night was quieter, with little to no sound.

When Renkotsu woke up, he found another one.

He still found it pointless to ask about, considering this mission was to be over soon and it was probably that woman Mukotsu said looked at him or whatever.

But curious, he read it.

_Every sound as soft_

_As the flickering of flames_

_A butterfly flies_

_Sweetly in the quiet breeze_

_A love equally charming_

It was strange. He received yet another poem. It was a decent poem, he supposed.

Saying he liked it was a bit generous, however. He didn't know the woman Mukotsu pointed out, and as he assumed that was the most likely lead, he wasn't sure how to feel about it.

Regardless, he knew it wasn't important enough to go around asking everyone in the castle. He figured that stupid.

The day seemed long, with very little to do.

Until, a demon showed up.

They were alerted by screaming, causing them all to grab their weapons and rush out. It looked stronger than the last. It had a few sidekicks.

It seemed the sidekicks were stronger than the others, too. Suikotsu took on one and Kyoukotsu the other. Mukotsu stayed out of battle as back-up with Renkotsu, Ginkotsu and Jakotsu.

"You're pretty tough, for a human." The demon spoke. Bankotsu smirked as the demon used its weapon as a sort of shield, and pulled his away only to immediately swing it at the demon again. The demon dodged, and went to land on the ground.

"That's a nice looking weapon. It'll be a nice addition to my collection!" They demon moved swiftly towards Bankotsu, who moved at an equal pace away, and quickly swinging Banryu at the demon.

The demon dodged, and turned to Bankotsu, "Ha. You think you can handle me? Well, take this!" The demon fired some sort of beam at Bankotsu, who blocked it using Banryu. As the attack collided with the halberd, it slowly vanished.

"Wh... What! That's impossible!" The demon spoke.

"Huh, nice attack." Bankotsu complimented, "Still not strong enough!"

He quickly sliced the demon in half, ending the battle.

Convenient enough, just as Bankotsu had finished off the strong demon and the others had been defeated already by Suikotsu and Kyoukotsu, arrived the demon slayers and who Renkotsu assumed was the person they sent to bring them there.

The man rushed out of his home, quickly, "Oh, thank goodness you are finally here!"

Bankotsu placed his companion over his shoulder.

In a small amount of time, the man went over and thanked Bankotsu, handing him the reward.

"Well, I suppose we might as well be off, huh?" Bankotsu commented. It was still light out.

"That would be a wise decision." Renkotsu replied.

This time, once they started walking they didn't stop for quite a while.

"Well, hopefully the next place is more fun!" Jakotsu talked, walking close by Bankotsu.

"It should be. Man, those demons were  _really_  weak." Bankotsu said, once again, "Least we got something out of it."

"I suppose it was worthwhile."

Eventually, they stopped to camp out when night came.

Once more, not too _too_  far away from the village, Renkotsu awoke to one last poem.

_A feeling within_

_Like a butterfly flying_

_It is passionate_

_Spreading throughout all my heart_

_Like a fire fueled by love_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one-shot is actually based off/inspired by the book Dear Dumb Diary. Kind of?
> 
> In the third one, Jamie (the protagonist) receives some romantic poems. She mistakenly thinks they're from Mr. Prince, the guy filling who is filling in for the lunch lady. In reality, it's from a boy in her class she finds repulsive.
> 
> I'm not good at poetry, but I tried to write some. I've also never been in love so I have no words to describe it with. But Ginkotsu likes butterflies, and Renkotsu can shoot fire from his mouth, and that's all I remember about their characters at the moment.


	13. After heartbreak ( Inuyasha X Kikyo )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was hard to move on, but no one seemed to understand that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A drabble based on the fact no one seems to consider how Inuyasha and Kikyou feel. It's always seems to be Kagome.  
> Past Inuyasha/Kikyo.

No one really understood their feelings.

The last thing he had remembered, the betrayal. He had given his trust only for it to be used to betray him, "Die, Inuyasha!"

He took the jewel, Kikyou had changed her mind. No, she had used him. She never intended to give him the jewel in the first place. All the talk about him becoming human, and about them being together had been for nothing.

It hurt him, he stilled loved her. In what felt like mere minutes, fifty years passed.

It felt like no time at all, it was hard to process.

He was unreasonable, to them, and he had to choose. He couldn't choose, he loved them both. He got attached to people too easily.

Everyone thought she was unreasonable, too.

The last she recalled, she was slain by the man she loved. He crushed his gift into pieces before her eyes, alongside her heart with his words. She was foolish, she had not seen through this. She let herself be vulnerable.

She awoke with the mindset that Inuyasha had betrayed her, unaware like him that it was Naraku who set it up.

It wasn't realized up until they met Miroku, that a shape-shifting demon could have been the cause. It was difficult to believe, suddenly everything changed like that. That didn't mean they were on good terms, it meant they just had not betrayed one another.

Inuyasha was constantly told to choose, yelled at constantly because he hurt Kagome's feelings. It seemed they didn't understand him.

No one seemed to understand. Inuyasha would never forget Kikyou, and she would never forget him.

You could never forget someone like that, someone you had loved so dearly. Even if that love faded into nothing.


	14. Finding some amusement ( Inuyasha & Kaede )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha is being impatient, and Kaede doesn't feel like dealing with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is an attempt at something that was requested, which was Inuyasha and a (younger?) Kaede interacting. Takes place before he was sealed. Really a guess at how Kaede would act.  
> Implied Inuyasha/Kikyo.

Inuyasha wasn't super familiar with Kikyou's younger sister.

He had seen Kikyou with her countless times, and hardly ever spoke to her. He mostly just showed up to speak with Kikyou, after all.

However, there was one time he did speak with her.

Kikyou wasn't around, unfortunately for him, and busy with her duties. Inuyasha waited impatiently.

"What's taking so long?" He thought aloud.

"Ye know, ye could use to be a little more patient."

He turned his head to see the young child, "What'd you know?"

"Sister Kikyou has not been gone that long, and already ye have already grown impatient."

"Keh." Inuyasha looked away, "She's been gone forever."

Kaede sighed, "Why don't ye find something to do to pass the time?" She suggested.

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. Whatever it is ye like to do." Kaede practiced with her bow, "Unless ye want me to pick out an activity."

Inuyasha closed his eyes and leaned back, "Some help you are."

"Alright. If ye want something to do then..." She thought for a moment, "Go and.. Um.. I need ye to get a flower from the forest nearby."

"A flower? What do you need that for?" Inuyasha asked in a rude sort of tone.

Pulling the first idea out of her head, she spoke, "I want to surprise sister Kikyou. However, the forest is too dangerous for someone experienced such as myself."

"So you want me to get a flower?" He asked dully, "Why would I do that?"

"Ye wanted something to do. It's challenging." She didn't look at him as she practiced with her bow, "I'm sure Sister Kikyou would appreciate it."

"Keh, fine." He stood up, "I'll go get the dumb flower."

"Wait, ye don't know which."

"Then just describe it to me."

"It's a pretty, uh, blue demon flower."

"What?" He said with disbelief, "What'd you mean?"

"It's a special flower, often guarded by demons. But I'm sure ye will manage just fine."

"Keh, alrighty then.

And he took off without another word towards the forest.

Kaede sighed in relief, ' _About time.'_

Quite a few hours had passed before Inuyasha returned, and it drew near to sunset. The sky had few clouds and Kaede enjoyed the quietness, as she sat in the breeze and waited patiently.

She was soon greeted by her elder sister, Kikyou.

Kaede smiled and rushed towards her, "Sister Kikyou!"

"Hello, Kaede." Kikyou said upon seeing her younger sister.

The two talked for a bit, but before long, a familiar face showed up.

"Inuyasha?" The two turned towards the half-demon.

"Keh, what flower were you even talking about?" Inuyasha demanded, "I didn't find any flower."

"But did ye look hard enough?"

Kikyou looked at her sister, having no idea what was going on.

"I looked everywhere and I'm telling ya it's not there!"

"It's okay, Inuyasha, ye just aren't good at finding flowers." She smiled politely.

Kikyou decided to ask, "Kaede, perhaps you could tell me what's going on?"

Kaede looked at her sister, "I asked Inuyasha to get a specific flower for me, but I guess he can't find it." She smirked.

"Whatever..."

Several hours later, Inuyasha had left.

"Would you mind telling me what really happened, Kaede?"

She looked up at her elder sister, "Oh, Inuyasha was complaining so I gave him something to do."

"You sent him to find a flower?"

"Yeah, but the flower I sent him after doesn't really exist." Kaede grinned, "Don't tell him that, though"

"Kaede.."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was okay.
> 
> I didn't have many ideas so I just wrote the first thing that came to mind. Hopefully they sounded in-character. I'm not sure how this ended up as Kaede pranking Inuyasha, but that's where it went.


	15. Renkotsu's plan ( Renkotsu X Ginkotsu )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Band of Seven have a very uneventful day, while Renkotsu tries to make progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the urge to write the Band of Seven, yet no ideas, and it turned into.. this.
> 
> I'm actually in the Band of Seven arc right now, I'm rewatching it.. The anime would be better if there was a filler episode about The Band of Seven, though.
> 
> Slight Renkotsu/Ginkotsu and Bankotsu/Jakotsu.

It was a peaceful, quiet day. Though, that really wasn't quite true.

The quietness was interrupted by the sound of the weird wheels and such of Ginkotsu, transporting the member of the Band of Seven. Renkotsu stood at his side, as always, and stared silently into the distance. Suikotsu was there, too.

Sitting was also Jakotsu, who was in the exact sort of position he usually was. Not far away was Bankotsu, standing dramatically on Ginkotsu for whatever reason.

Whatever peace there was, the five hoped to destroy, as they were mercenaries.

"Huh, I wonder what we should do now." Bankotsu said aloud to himself.

"Bankotsu no Aniki, perhaps it would be wise to stop at a nearby village and plan?" Renkotsu suggested, able to see a village in the distance.

"Huh, now that you mention it, that  _doesn't_  sound like a bad idea." He said in a relatively dull tone, and added rationally, "Though we can't kill anyone without Inuyasha finding us."

"Rest assured, me and Ginkotsu will have that taken care of." Renkotsu said confidently, "We should have a plan by the end of the day, should things go well."

"Ah, alright. I'll leave that smart guy stuff to you." Bankotsu closed his eyes, his usual grin seeming more innocent than usual.

"Gesh."

Once they arrived at the village, they began walking. They figured riding on Ginkotsu would be a bit intimidating, and they didn't come to a village for that.

For some reason, though, the villagers still seemed terrified at the sight of them. Perhaps they knew about The Band of Seven, or maybe a bunch of people with visible weapons and Ginkotsu was simply just unsettling.

"So what do we do here?" Jakotsu asked, very clearly bored.

"We'll get to that later." Renkotsu said.

"But when will we see Inuyasha again?" Jakotsu asked yet another question.

"We'll get to that later as well." It was impressive he could stay calm.

Meanwhile, rather far away, there was a young child sitting down in the grass, humming some sort of song she made up.

Suddenly, she stopped, and looked at one of her dads, "Master Jaken, where did Lord Sesshomaru go?"

"How should I know?!" Jaken exclaimed, and sighed, "How come my Lord has left me once again... And with this human child..."

Rin looked stood up and walked over to Jaken, "You know, you're kind of strange."

During that amount of time, The Band of Seven had found a nice place to stay for the time being. Bankotsu sat quietly with Jakotsu, probably deep in thought, while Renkotsu was making a plan with his closet friend, Ginkotsu.

"Gesh."

"You're right, Ginkotsu." Renkotsu agreed, "That would be too obvious."

" _Gesh._ " Ginkotsu added.

"You really think that would work?" Renkotsu inquired, curious, "I suppose it's not impossible... Yes, they'd fall right directly into it... It's nearly flawless."

"Gesh, gesh.."

"We better start preparing. The faster Inuyasha gets here, the faster we can proceed."

The two set off to set up whatever strange plan they had prepared, and in that time, two mercenaries sat together, drinking sake.

"Hey, Jakotsu.." Bankotsu asked, "Do you ever think Renkotsu might betray us all?"

"Huh? I don't suppose it's that unlikely, though I can't see him betraying Ginkotsu..." Jakotsu said, thoughtful, with his hand on his face.

"He does spend an awful lot of time with Ginkotsu, doesn't he."

"You know, if you asked me, I'd say he's got a thing for him." Jakotsu guessed, "I can't think of any other reason why Renkotsu would want to spend  _that_  much time with him..."

Bankotsu didn't respond, instead taking a sip of his sake.

There was a short moment of silence before Jakotsu broke it with a classic, "I wonder when Inuyasha will get here."

Of course, Inuyasha was almost an excuse at this point. As far as he knew, as well, Bankotsu didn't even suspect a thing. It was really surprising that after all the years that he never seemed to notice.

Jakotsu did that thing he did a lot with his arms, and stared off to the distance in thought, looking adorable as he usually did.

While he did that, Renkotsu and Ginkotsu were setting up their plan.

"You'll blend in with the trees and catch them by surprise." Renkotsu instructed, "Inuyasha will no doubt be drawn by either the scent or the noise."

"Gesh."

"After that, we'll have to get him away from that sword of his." Something that Renkotsu assumed would be good practice later on, "If we're going to stand a chance against Inuyasha _or_  Bankotsu, we'll have to manage this."

"Gesh, gesh."

"I see. In which case, this should be no problem at all, Ginkotsu."

"Gesh."

But before he could put the plan into action, there was a scream very nearby and the sound of the stomping of something large.

Renkotsu and Ginkotsu went to investigate.

A couple and their two children stood terrified as what looked like a demon stood, growling. They stood, frozen, and didn't move until they heard the sound of something falling to the ground, especially trees.

Renkotsu looked at the demon as though disappointed, and the couple turned towards them.

"You.. You saved us." Cheered one of them, "Thank you so much!"

"Gesh."

"You're right, Ginkotsu, this is most convenient." Renkotsu grinned.

Unfortunately, despite how great their trap was, Inuyasha didn't show up.

"So you set a trap?" Bankotsu commented, unconcerned.

"Unfortunately, it seems it failed." Renkotsu remarked, "Inuyasha must not be close enough."

Jakotsu sighed, "Bummer."

"Maybe we should make the scent stronger." Suikotsu suggested, holding his claws up.

"Well, we might as well." Bankotsu stood up, "Since Inuyasha has yet to show up."

"Gesh."

The day was uneventful aside from that, and fun as it was, it hardly lasted long at all. Overall, it was just disappointing.


	16. Friends ( Renkotsu X Ginkotsu )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a battle, Renkotsu works on repairs for Ginkotsu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have writer's block.

Saying the conversations they usually all had together were particularly interesting wasn't the most truthful. They seemed to have a theme, and admittedly, it got old after awhile.

He wasn't sure how he felt about a lot of the members, he wasn't close with some of them. Some of them he liked more than others, or perhaps it was just how much time he'd spent with some of them, especially those already in the group by the time he joined.

Renkotsu would consider them all friends, in a way. He wasn't sure that implied  _close_.

After a particularly dangerous battle, Renkotsu had found a good place to work on repairing and upgrading Ginkotsu. Ginkotsu was, without a doubt, his closet friend in the entire group. Something that he didn't think about often.

"This upgrade should be quite useful." Renkotsu commented as he attached something else to Ginkotsu, "It will undoubtedly come in handy."

"Gesh."


	17. Unrequited ( Bankotsu X Jakotsu )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bankotsu starts acting a bit strangely, and it gets old pretty quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is probably one of the longest one-shots written for Encounters. It's less serious than the others I think.  
> Slight Renkotsu X Ginkotsu.

It was about a month or so he was working this job, but today was a little bit different. There was no clear answer why it was different, or at least one he'd be willing to admit, as it just was a strange day and continued to be a strange day.

As the hours passed, it continued to be unusual. It seemed like a very long day, as the time just went on and on, and at the same time it felt like it was going very fast.

"It's unrequited, he doesn't love you back."

There was something like a pause.

As the customer was paying for their groceries, they looked at Bankotsu with an expression that seemed to be confusion at the sudden comment, "My wife?"

"Yes." Bankotsu replied, as the customer began walking away with their groceries. It wasn't long until someone familiar who overheard the conversation had shown up, while he was helping the next customer.

"Bankotsu, don't you think you might be projecting a bit?" Suikotsu asked. They all knew why he was doing so, except for probably Jakotsu, but it was a little concerning. There were some things they never saw Bankotsu do before, mostly those things being project on strangers.

"I wouldn't say that, Suikotsu." Bankotsu didn't look at Suikotsu as he said it, as he was checking the time. The store was closing soon, which meant it was just about time for Bankotsu to leave.

As a few days passed, it seemed to get more unusual. When they were out one day heading to one of their favourite places to hang out together - a building nearby where Mukotsu worked which was often very quiet - the six had passed a couple which happened to be making out. They hadn't planned on stopping for any length of time, but when they noticed Bankotsu walking over to them, it seemed the best choice.

Bankotsu had grabbed the couple and pulled them apart and said to them, "It's unrequited, get over it!"

The couple seemed to be horrified, or maybe just confused or perhaps surprised. Bankotsu didn't say anything else before walking away, and seemed very frustrated. It seemed the problem kept getting worse, as walking up to strangers and pulling them apart was in no way a good thing.

"Bankotsu..."

There wasn't much they could say about it at the moment, but it had to be addressed sometime for sure, though now was far from the time.

When they got to their favourite spot, it was wonderful to know there was no possible way Bankotsu could do it again, they were entirely sure of it. It had to be mentioned sometime, and as Jakotsu had been hanging out with them less and less, there were plenty of opportunities they would have to do so.

It wasn't really until the next night they could attempt at addressing the issue, as they were hanging out at Suikotsu's place. They hadn't figured it'd be brought up so soon, with the scenario they were in, but yet it was.

While they were about to do everything they usually did - maybe order some food and drink sake, talk about various topics, make plans - the conversation quickly became something entirely different, even if it didn't make any sense.

"It's unrequited, get over it." Bankotsu had said quietly, barely looking at his friends.

It seems that before, at least him saying it was unrequited had made some sense. This time, it did not work in the context of the conversation attempts. It was relatively unexpected, as none of them would have thought of this.

"We're just ordering donuts.." Renkotsu said, "Bankotsu, is this because Jakotsu got a boyfriend?"

While he didn't need the answer, as he was confident that it was in fact the reason, he still waited for one.

"Yeah, maybe it is." Bankotsu responded after what seemed like a minute, now looking straight at Renkotsu, "It's not a problem, however. Let's not dwell on it."

Despite attempts after that one, none of the five members had any success afterwards. He seemed to refuse to talk about it, and often avoided the topic if it was possible. It was almost amazing how he managed to avoid it sometimes. None of them had managed to make any progress at stopping it, and it was getting a little bit old very quickly, though it seemed that was a bit of an understatement.

As several months passed, the five had other matters to focus on. They were all busy with their own lives occasionally, and other times they spent hanging out with each other. They weren't sure if it was getting more frequent, or perhaps it was improving.

It had been getting rarer that the six, let alone seven of them, would hang out. They had all planned a day to hang out, or at least for six of them to, and Renkotsu had an announcement to make when they could. It was relatively exciting news.

As they had scheduled somewhere to hang out - Renkotsu and Ginkotsu's apartment, which had a lot of displays and especially that of weapons - the four other members arrived there to do what they would usually like to do when they would hang out. As their friends arrived and got comfortable, Renkotsu prepared to order food as they occasionally did.

"So, you had something to say?" Suikotsu asked as he sat down. It was partially one of the reasons they had been invited. On that, they had also invited Jakotsu, though they weren't certain he'd show up.

"Ginkotsu and I got engaged." Renkotsu announced to his friends.

As Bankotsu stood up, there was a very clear idea of what he was going to do. He walked up closer to Renkotsu and Ginkotsu, who both already knew exactly what he was going to say.

"It's unrequited, get over it." He told them.

It seemed everyone just sighed, as did Renkotsu before saying, "Just tell him, Bankotsu."

A thought came into Renkotsu's mind, something he figured it wouldn't hurt to mention. It was something he noticed a few times before and was sure the others had as well, except for Bankotsu.

"You know," Renkotsu commented, "Hiten looks an awful lot like you, Bankotsu."

"What? Hiten? I hate that guy. He looks dumb and ugly and stupid and I hate him and he's a jerk."

"Oh, you've met him? Is he really that bad?"

"Well, no, I've never met him. But I don't need to, sometimes you just know."

Before they the conversation continued, there was a knock. Renkotsu answered the door to find Jakotsu had, in fact, shown up. It was a great opportunity, and perhaps the only one they'd get for awhile. It wasn't often they had seen Jakotsu lately, it seemed he was quite busy.

"Hello, Jakotsu. We're glad you could make it." Renkotsu said, and was quite glad, "Bankotsu has a problem he'd like to talk to you about Hiten."

There was very little ways it could go wrong, as they now had set it up. As Bankotsu seemed to hate Hiten for whatever reason, it wasn't fully a lie. With any luck, Bankotsu would stop the 'it's unrequited' thing.

"Hiten?" Jakotsu asked, and then added casually, "I dumped him like a week ago. What's the problem?"

Upon hearing this news, there was a certain feeling in the air. It was a relief to think that maybe, Bankotsu would finally stop the 'it's unrequited'. Unexpectedly, Bankotsu grabbed Jakotsu and kissed him, followed by a clear feeling of 'oops, shouldn't have done that'.

"Uh, I was just excited because Hiten's a bad guy, and uh," Bankotsu rambled nervously, "You should date whoever you want, but uh, not that guy."

Jakotsu smiled, "I think I know who I want to date."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sibling did the concept and came up with most if not all of the dialogue. I just wrote it down and I really enjoy thinking about the idea of Bankotsu going around and telling people 'it's unrequited, get over it'.


	18. The Test ( Inuyasha X Kagome )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An expecting mother asks for help from her best friends, and is disturbed by the results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inuyasha X Kagome, Temporary/Anti-Miroku X Sango

Kagome sat outside with Sango. It was a nice night, and the cold air was refreshing. It had already been three years since Naraku had been defeated, and Kagome had finally graduated high school. It was relieving, yet things had changed so much in the three years she had been in her era. The most notable at the moment happened to be the fact that Sango was pregnant.

"Kids are a lot of responsibility," Sango said, and turned to Kagome, "I don't know if me and Miroku would be good parents."

Kagome was sure that Sango would be a great parent, but she wasn't that sure of Miroku, thinking of past experiences involving him. But she figured as long as she and Sango were there, it'd be fine.

"You'll be a great parent, Sango." She could see Sango being a good parent, she really worried more about Miroku. She supposed there had been situations in which Miroku seemed like he could be a good parent, but there seemed to more in which he seemed like he wouldn't.

Sango turned to Kagome, holding Kirara and petting her, "Is there any way people in your era can prepare?"

"Well..." Kagome thought for a few moments, before answering, "There is this one thing.. Me and Inuyasha could even do it with you, if you want."

It seemed to be a good idea, it'd be good practice at least. She just needed a few things..

"Really?" Sango asked, curious, "What is it?

They headed back inside after Kagome explained it. They both agreed it seemed best to leave it as a surprise, for now.

Kagome had a lot of time to think about it during the night, she planned on telling her family members about it as well. She was looking forward to it, as well as returning to her era. She hadn't returned there in a little while, and it would be nice to stay there for a little while. She still had some things to do in the modern era, and it'd be nice to spend some time with her family.

"Kagome, are you going to be there long?" Shippo asked, as Kagome was preparing to leave. She held onto her bicycle, while Inuyasha was sitting with his eyes close, something he seemed to do quite often.

"No, I just have to get a few things and then I'll be back here." Kagome answered, cheerfully, "I might be a little bit though, I haven't been back there in a while."

She didn't expect to be there long, as she mostly planned to shop. She smiled, thinking of the plan she and Sango had made previously. She turned towards where Inuyasha was sitting, "We should get going. See you later, Shippo."

"Alright." Inuyasha said, as they walked towards the well.

Kagome needed Inuyasha to go to the modern era and back now, as she didn't have the sacred jewel anymore. They had finally got rid of it for good, alongside Naraku. They didn't visit her era a lot afterwards, so Kagome intended to do as much as possible in the times they did.

After they entered her house, Inuyasha left, she had a guess as to what he was going to be doing. She stretched and and looked around briefly, before she left to change into something better. She figured she'd take a bath, too, while she was there. After she had changed into a cute outfit, she headed out to the store. It was nice to be back in her era.

Shopping didn't take long - she picked up the basics, things Inuyasha liked such as chips and instant noodles and some candy for Shippo. She smiled as she returned home with everything they'd be taking back to the feudal era. More time seemed to pass as she placed the things she bought down and carefully picked up a bag of flour. There were three bags, and they were just what they'd use for practice.

"Inuyasha?" She called, as she walked around the house holding a bag of flour. She found him waiting on the floor, sitting as he usually did. She held the bag of flour close to his face, smiling.

"What's that?" He asked, confused.

"It's a bag of flour for us to practice being parents with," Kagome explained, "We're doing it with Sango and Miroku so they can practice."

"Practice? With what?" Inuyasha asked, sounding annoyed.

"This. This is our baby." Kagome stated, holding their bag of flour.

"It's  _your_  baby maybe. I ain't touching it."

"Inuyasha!" She sighed, it wasn't going to be easy. She wasn't sure how either of them would do in this situation, She walked away, and placed her bag of flour near Sango's. She figured she might as well relax while she was here, so she went to go take a bath.

Kagome figured she might have to try a bit harder to get Inuyasha to participate. He was still like that, even after three years.

She wasn't sure if it was going to be this hard to get Miroku involved, but she hoped not. A few hours later, she was prepared to return with the bags of flour. She had thought of a name for hers. This was going to be good practice, and it was the best idea they had to prepare so far. Sango was right, kids were a  _lot_  of responsibility. As Kagome brushed through her hair, she thought about ways to get Inuyasha to do it.

She supposed she'd just have to keep trying.

As Kagome got dressed and packed everything except the bags of flour into her bag, she turned to Inuyasha, who seemed to be waiting. She handed him her yellow bag, which was filled with everything she had previously purchased, while she held the bags of flour carefully, "Let's go, Inuyasha."

He seemed to be saying something quietly, probably something along the lines of 'fine' angrily, but Kagome was more focused on the bags of flour, and not dropping them and such. That seemed like a bad idea, considering these were supposed to be practice for children. As she and Inuyasha returned, she had to be very careful with the bags of flour. Inuyasha brought up the bag, "You coming, Kagome?"

"Yeah." She said, adjusting the bags of flour into one arm, "In a moment."

After she climbed out of the well, she placed the bags of flour into the basket on her bike and held the handle as she walked back.

"I don't see why you still need that thing," Inuyasha stated about her bike, once again, "It'd be easier if you just walked."

There were a lot of her memories where Inuyasha said similar things about her bicycle, as for some reason he didn't seem to be very fond of it. He mentioned that frequently on their travels, and it seemed that hadn't changed. Still, it was way easier than holding three bags of flour all day.

The sun was setting by the time they had arrived in the village, and almost immediately they were greeted by Shippo, Miroku and Sango.

"Kagome!" Shippo said cheerfully, "You're back."

"Hi, Shippo." Kagome said, and looked inside the yellow bag, "I got you some candy... Here it is."

She pulled out a colourful lollipop and handed it to Shippo.

"Wow! That's pretty." Shippo exclaimed as he held his new candy, "Thank you, Kagome."

Kagome turned towards the bag of flours and gently picked one of them out, and turned towards Sango, "Here's one of them," She said as she gently handed the flour over to Sango, and then handed another to Miroku, "And.. Here. Don't drop it."

"What is that?" Miroku asked as he looked at the flour slightly confused.

"It's a bag of flour from Kagome's era," Sango explained to him, "We're using it to practice being parents."

"Oh..." Miroku seemed confused, "Good idea."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, "Inuyasha, do you want to hold her?"

"What?" Inuyasha inquired, "Hold what?"

"Our baby. Her name is Ai." She said as she put the bag of flour in Inuyasha's face once again.

"Why would I want to do that?" Inuyasha said, staring at it, "It's not even real."

"Inuyasha!" Kagome placed the flour in Inuyasha's hands, "Hold her."

She walked away and crossed her arms, glaring at Inuyasha.

"Fine." He said annoyed. He held the bag of flour irresponsibly.

"Not like that! You'll drop her!" Kagome yelled, and walked over quickly to adjust the way he held it, "Like  _this._ "

It was clear this was going to take longer than expected. They were doing this for Miroku and Sango, but he was doing this. Kagome sighed and picked up her yellow bag before walking towards Sango who held her bag of flour carefully.

"Where are you two going?" Miroku asked, attempting to hold his own bag of flour like an infant, "What do we do with these?"

"We're going inside," Sango stated, "Just keep your 'baby' in one piece."

"We'll try." Miroku said.

Late in the night, Inuyasha sat inside alone.

' _This is stupid,_ ' Inuyasha thought to himself, as he pointlessly stared at the bag of flour on the floor, ' _Babies are stupid. They don't even do anything._ _'_

He wasn't going to pretend this bag of flour was his kid. But they were doing this for Sango, and that was important. Sango was his friend, and it wasn't like he had any choice anyway. He might as well do it.

He picked up the flour and observed it closely, and held it close towards him.

"What do you even do with it? Just watch it?" Inuyasha thought out loud, "This is a waste of time."

"Hey, Inuyasha." Shippo walked in, standing next to Kagome.

Inuyasha placed the bag of flour down and sat back, sitting with his eyes closed. Kagome walked over and picked up the flour, and sat down with them. She held it like she was trying to get it to sleep. After awhile, Kagome set it down on a safe place to sleep.

The next morning was more difficult than they thought it would be.

Shippo watched him try and take care of it for most of the day, but it turned out it was a boring process. He did learn one thing, and that was that he didn't expect Miroku's bag of flour to survive.

Sango was much more responsible with hers, which was good considering she was going to be a parent soon. Kagome wasn't as good, but she was certainly better than Inuyasha, who was starting to seem a bit more interested. He was actually kind of nice to it last night, nicer than he was to Shippo. It didn't seem very fair, and Kagome was paying a lot of attention to it, too.

Shippo didn't mention it, instead colouring and watching what was happening. He drew pictures of what he expected to happen. He was going to show them to Rin and Kaede later.

While Shippo was drawing, Miroku was up to no good. As usual.

He was walking through the village when he spotted beautiful young women. He set the bag of flour down for a few moments to go and talk with them and to start flirting.

While the bag of flour sat on the ground, neglected, Miroku was distracted by the women, as he flirted with them before asking the classic, "Would you do me the honour of baring my children?"

He didn't seem to notice when a child picked up the bag of flour and threw it, until he heard the sound and turned his head.

"My baby!" He shouted, and then in a more worried voice, "Sango's going to kill me."

He was the first to lose his baby, unexpectedly, as Shippo assumed it would've been Inuyasha. But he had been so distracted by the beautiful women he didn't even notice the child throw it until it was too late. But apparently he just wasn't ready to have a baby..

When he eventually went home, he attempted to explain what happened to the flour.

"You just _left_  it there?" Sango asked, holding hers closely. She looked at him angrily.

"Well.. I just.." Miroku attempted to explain, "I was distracted."

"Distracted by what?"

"Well, um.."

The argument ended when Sango hit him with her weapon.

As the hours passed, Shippo had filled Kaede and Rin in and told them his expectations. Sango told them about how Miroku had lost his bag of flour because he was distracted by beautiful women and hadn't been paying attention to it. Considering Miroku was having a kid with Sango, it seemed like no one should ever leave the kid alone with Miroku. It seemed weird for him to even be asking other girls to have his children.

Rin and Shippo drew for a few hours together and showed their pictures to Kaede. While they were doing that, it turned out Inuyasha was also about to be as irresponsible as he usually was.

"Come on, Kagome, you've had it all day!" Inuyasha complained. Kagome had been watching the flour all day.

"Okay, do you wanna watch her?" Kagome asked, offering the flour out to him.

"Ugh, fine." He said, taking it, "I guess."

"You don't have to."

"It's fine." Inuyasha stated, and looked at it. He threw it up in the air.

"Inuyasha!"

He caught the bag of flour, only to throw it once again.

"Inuyasha, you can't throw it!"

"Why not? My mom threw me." Inuyasha said as he caught the flour and threw it up in the air again.

"Inuyasha, sit boy!"

As Inuyasha crashed down into the ground, the flour fell as well. A small part of the bag ripped open and some flour poured out.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome repeated, picking up the flour and covering the rip with her hand.

"It's your fault!" Inuyasha stated, "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You kept throwing her in the air!"

"It's not a big deal. She's fine."

Kagome sighed and went inside to find something to bandage it up with. They were lucky it wasn't that big of a rip, otherwise they would've failed, too.

"See? It's fine." Inuyasha pointed out after Kagome had managed to fix it, in a way. He picked it up and sat against the wall as he watched it. So far it had seemed the first day was a disaster. First Miroku had broke his, then Inuyasha and Kagome had injured theirs. After that incident, Kagome made sure to keep her eye on it. As the first day ended, it seemed there was a few problems.

The most stressful thing for Sango was that the one who had failed on the _first_  day was Miroku, the person she was having a child with. Not only that, but he had failed because he was busy flirting with other girls.

She didn't expect that Miroku would fail that badly, and she kinda hoped he was done flirting with other girls.

Sango sighed as she looked down at the bag of flour she was holding. She was going to be having a  _real_  child, but she couldn't expect Miroku to help out with it, especially not after what he did. She gently placed it down to sleep.

Kirara looked at her worriedly, and Sango gently pet her while she kept an eye on the flour.

It was.. quite concerning, to say the least.

While Sango relaxed inside, Kagome was headed towards the well with Inuyasha.

"So why are you going back to your era, anyway?" Inuyasha asked, "We just went a few days ago."

"Yes, but I'd like to practice over there," Kagome answered as she walked, until the well came into view. She and Inuyasha went down into the well, and then they were back in the modern era. It was always nice to be back, but Kagome didn't really intend to stay that long. She could take a nap, though, while she was there...

As she walked into her house, she was glad to see her younger brother.

"Hey, Kagome! You're back. And Inuyasha!" Sota commented, "Why are you holding a bag of flour?"

"Well, a friend of mine is having a baby, but she's not sure if she'd be a good parent so we're all practicing with bags of flour." Kagome explained, and offered the bag of flour to her brother, "Could you watch her for a moment, though? I'm going to prepare a bath..."

"Okay..." Sota agreed, and sat and talked with Inuyasha while Kagome was gone.

Kagome returned with a plastic bag, which she put the bag of flour in.

"Sis, what are you doing?" Sota asked.

"Giving it a bath," Kagome said quickly, as she picked up the flour, which was now covered in a plastic bag, and left.

She set it down in the bath gently, attempting to make sure water wouldn't get in the plastic bag. It was working for the most part, and going pretty well... Up until she dropped it.

The bag broke opened, flour floating in the water. Kagome stared into the water. She had just dropped the bag of flour that was supposed to be her baby in the water...

Kagome had sat there for a few minutes, simply realizing what had happened. As she cleaned up, she kept thinking about it. As soon as she finished, she went to tell Inuyasha what had happened. She hoped he wouldn't take it that badly.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, "I kind of, uh.. I dropped our baby in the water and it broke open."

"You _what?!"_ He yelled, "You'd be a terrible mother! You drowned our baby!"

"Like you're any better! You were the one throwing it!"

"Yeah, but I didn't actually kill it!" Inuyasha said.

"Sit!" Kagome walked outside towards the well, "We're going back. Come on, Inuyasha."

Kagome didn't talk much with Inuyasha after they travelled back, and made their way back to the village. It was late when they got back, and Kagome was hoping she could still help Sango with this, even if she wasn't that great at taking care of infants.

Sango, somehow, still had her bag of flour. She was holding it when they found her.

"Sango.." Kagome said, "We kinda.. Broke our baby..."

" _You_  broke it." Inuyasha corrected.

"You threw it!"

"Yeah, but it didn't break."

Sango watched as the two argued, deep in thought.

Kagome stopped arguing and turned to Sango and noticed the flour, "How did you manage to keep that thing intact?"

"Well, I did basically raise Kohaku.. And, Kagome.."

"Yes?"

"I know you two might not be the best at taking care of a baby, but..." Sango said, "Could I raise my kids with you two..?"

"What about Miroku?" Kagome asked.

"I've decided.. I shouldn't be with Miroku anymore." Sango looked at her bag of flour, "After he left it like that.. I think it'd be better."

Kagome sat down near Sango, "Okay."

"Glad you're finally getting rid of that guy." Inuyasha commented, sitting near them, "I never liked him."


	19. Weird green dad (Rin & Jaken)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin isn't very happy when some other children keep asking Jaken for stories...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty rushed, and I might rewrite it later, but who knows. It's based off a sort of dream I had.  
> Platonic Rin & Jaken, implied Sesshomaru/Jaken sort of.

It wasn't very often that Rin saw other children, so she was quite surprised to find some playing around the area she was in, especially considering it was relatively far away from the nearby village.

They were all laughing together, and she figured they were probably playing.

Whatever they were doing, it seemed quite appealing, and she was getting bored, so she decided she'd go talk to them. She started running towards them, her arms out like she was trying to balance.

"Rin? Where are you going?" Jaken asked, though Rin didn't respond, which meant he had to follow her as well.

The children looked at Rin, appearing confused as she approached.

"Hi." Rin greeted the human children, enthusiastically.

"Hello." One of them said, waving. They smiled cheerfully, "What's your name?"

"I'm Rin."

"You should play this game with us, Rin. It'll be really fun."

"Okay." Rin agreed, though before she had the chance, Jaken had shown up.

"Rin!" He exclaimed, "Why have you run off? Lord Sesshomaru will have my head if anything happens to you."

"Wow! A demon!" One of the kids remarked.

"That's so cool! Is this demon your friend, Rin?"

Rin nodded, cheerfully, "This is Master Jaken."

"Wow!" The kid who had talked with her was suddenly very interested in Jaken, "Can he do anything cool?"

"Not really.." Rin answered.

"Who's Lord Sesshomaru?" One kid asked.

Then things changed significantly.

It turned out, Jaken was quite happy to answer that question, in a very detailed response. The children were way more interested in it than Rin was, as someone who had seen him before and heard Jaken talk about him. He liked to tell these long stories, but Rin was never interested in them, especially considering she didn't really like long stories... But these kids seemed to love these stories, for some reason Rin didn't understand.

They were weirdly happy to hear them, asking for all the details and listening quietly, they even sounded amazed at some parts. Jaken was very happy to tell them stories about a variety of things, especially as they listened to every word he said.

It didn't seem to be a very good day to Rin, as she had intended to play with these children. She didn't think she wanted to anymore, especially as it seemed they were trying to steal Jaken. That was  _her_  weird green dad, not theirs, and she didn't intend to let them just take him.

Jaken didn't even like humans, and yet here he was, telling them all these stories and entertaining them. It just seemed very unfair to her, they weren't even travelling with them! How come he was being nice to them?

"Master Jaken, we should probably return and wait for Lord Sesshomaru." Rin suggested, her tone different than it originally had been.

"That's right, Rin. We've been wasting too much time here!" Jaken said, and began to walk away, though he didn't have the chance when several children suddenly grabbed him, trapping him.

"No!" Cried on of the children, "Can't you stay just a _little_  longer?"

" _Please!_ "

Rin tried pushing the kids off of Jaken, who was struggling to escape, "We have to leave now."

"Can we at least come with you?" Someone asked.

"I don't think you can." Rin answered, while Jaken regained his breath.

"Aw..."

"Come on, Master Jaken. Let's go wait for Lord Sesshomaru to return."

Rin really didn't want to be around them longer, especially after all those long stories. Why did these kids wanted to steal him so desperately? Did they actually all like long stories, coincidentally? Why were they all so fascinated by him, it just didn't make sense. Asking for all those long, boring, detailed stories...

She didn't really care why, but she didn't plan on letting them. Rin didn't consider today a good day, as some kids had tried to steal Jaken from her, but she figured that maybe, she could make it better. She had hoped so, at least, perhaps the next day would be better. Maybe even more eventful, or more entertaining.

Rin pet the dragon, Ah-Un, shortly before she settled down and leaned against it, watching her surroundings.

It was starting to get later, she noticed, and she wondered when Lord Sesshomaru would return. Things were better now that they were away from the kids, Rin supposed, though she was back to being extremely bored, but at least people weren't trying to steal Jaken anymore. She had two dads, but she didn't intend on letting anyone take them, as she needed them both.

Rin was still not in a great mood, even after the kids seemed to have left the area completely. She couldn't wait to leave the area, and travel far away from the village the kids probably lived in.

Although she had calmed down, she still didn't intend on ever seeing those kids _ever_  again.


	20. Different strategy (Bankotsu X Jakotsu)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagome suddenly confesses her love for Bankotsu. (And everyone's in-character.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bankotsu/Jakotsu, implied Kagome/Inuyasha, Slightly Implied Miroku/Sango.

Kagome watched the fire, roasting fish over it as they discussed the strategy.

"We'll just have to find them before they find us, it's simple," Inuyasha said, "Then I'll use my Wind Scar and that's it."

"Perhaps we should try a different approach." Miroku suggested.

"The Band of Seven does seem to use a lot of tricks." Sango added.

"Then it's settled." Miroku said, "We'll trick them into thinking Kagome's in love with Bankotsu."

"What?!" Both Kagome and Inuyasha happened to yell.

"Just think, we're dealing with a band of ruthless mercenaries. The only way we could actually trick them is if they think Kagome's in love with him." Miroku reasoned, "They'll fall for it, and we might have a better chance."

"Why does it have to be  _me_?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, it's your idea Miroku." Shippo said, "How come you chose Kagome for it?"

"Well, there is no way Bankotsu will be able to resist a young, beautiful woman." Miroku answered.

Shippo understood, and also had an idea of why Miroku hadn't chose Sango instead.

"Then how's Kagome gonna help with that?" Inuyasha asked, "You said they had to be pretty."

Shippo looked at Inuyasha, "What an idiot." He commented.

"You'd think he'd have learned by now."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome started, "Sit boy!"

The next morning they searched for The Band of Seven, following their scent.

They seemed to be getting close, as the scent grew stronger. Inuyasha was prepared to fight them, though he knew they wouldn't let him and they'd try that plan. He was sure it would fail.

Inuyasha ran, getting closer and closer to the location they were at, "I sense a jewel shard up ahead." Kagome told him.

She didn't want to do the plan either, but they didn't have many ideas and this was the only good strategy they had thought of so far, and a this was unique approach could really be the solution to defeating The Band of Seven.

As they arrived, she felt more like literally any other plan.

Renkotsu was standing on Ginkotsu, dramatically, while Bankotsu was doing something with his halberd, Banryu, probably cleaning it or something, while Jakotsu was casually sitting down.

"Inuyasha!" Jakotsu waved lightly, as everyone else seemed to merely look at them.

"So, you've finally arrived," Bankotsu commented, "You sure took a long time."

"You must be in a rush to get back to your graves." Inuyasha replied, taking out the Tetsusaiga.

"It won't be that easy." Bankotsu held up Banryu, pointing it towards Inuyasha, "I hope you're ready to be defeated."

Kagome watched, walking up closer slowly and interrupting the battle, "Bankotsu..."

"Huh?" Bankotsu looked at Kagome, "Ah, so we'll have to get rid of the girl first then?"

"Bankotsu!" Kagome shouted, "I've been waiting to admit it, and I know you probably don't think much of me, but..." She turned away, covering her face with her hair. She thought she was doing a pretty good job at being convincing. Perhaps she should act more often...

"Bankotsu, I'm in love with you!" Kagome admitted, as she turned back towards him with a sad look.

"What...?" Bankotsu looked at the girl, confused.

"What?!" Inuyasha shouted, angrily.

Kagome walked closer to Bankotsu, her expression sad as she said quietly, "I've been in love with you this whole time, Bankotsu.."

Jakotsu reached for his sword, angrily, as he watched the girl move closer towards Bankotsu.

"Why are you so jealous?" Renkotsu inquired, "With the girl gone, Inuyasha's free."

"Huh?" Jakotsu turned to Renkotsu, "What do you mean 'jealous'?"

"You're about to slice the girl to pieces." Renkotsu explained, "That's quite unlike you, Jakotsu."

That was true, but Jakotsu didn't plan to admit why he was so focused on her. He hadn't expected Renkotsu would notice what he was doing, and hoped he hadn't caught on yet.. But even if he had, that didn't mean much except that Renkotsu would know.

He was unaware that Renkotsu already knew, and so did everyone except Bankotsu.

Kagome approached Bankotsu, looking into his eyes.

"We may be different, but..." Kagome told him, "I can't help how I feel about you, Bankotsu."

"Kagome!" Inuyasha said, irritated.

"Ugh." Jakotsu looked quite disgusted and angry.

"I'm surprised you'd miss a chance to fight Inuyasha." Renkotsu remarked, "After all that talk about him."

Jakotsu seemed to be ignoring Renkotsu, staring intensely at Kagome while he reached to take out his sword to presumably attack her. He didn't want her anywhere near Bankotsu, or any women near him, for that matter.

He didn't care about her before, but now he was focused more on her than he ever would have been. He didn't care if Inuyasha was free now, which was something even he considered weird for him to not care about. He had to get rid of that woman...

He didn't have a chance to attack her before Bankotsu adjusted his halberd and pointed it at Kagome.

"Well, then, I guess that's too bad for you." Bankotsu commented, "It's unrequited." He appeared to have gotten rid of the confusion, and rushed to attack Kagome who was quickly pulled out of the way by Inuyasha, "Kagome!"

"So he's not into beautiful women..." Miroku observed.

"Maybe he likes Jakotsu." Shippo suggested.

"Perhaps, and that would explain why he didn't fall for Kagome.."

Inuyasha angrily turned towards his friends, "Hey, Miroku!"

He ran towards them, holding Kagome and prepared to lecture him.

"Well, we really should be going." Miroku said, walking away.

"Miroku!" Inuyasha yelled, "Come back here!"

Renkotsu listened, slowly figuring out what had just happened..

"Ah," Renkotsu realized, "So this was a trick."

"A trick?" Jakotsu asked.

"Yes, they were only pretending that the girl was in love with Bankotsu no Aniki."

"Oh." Jakotsu said, for some reason looking relieved, "But why would they pretend that?"

"Probably to get us to lower our guard." Suikotsu answered.

They watched as Inuyasha ran away, farther and farther until he seemed to disappear into the distance and they were left to process what happened.

A few hours had passed, and the sun was now starting to set.

The area surrounding them was further from Mt. Hakurei than they probably should be, but they had gone quite a bit of distance. It was near a couple of caves, even with what sounded to be a waterfall nearby, likely going into the river.

The water seemed to be reflecting the sky, turning a nice shade of orange they could see with what light was left.

Things seemed to be back to normal, as Renkotsu was working on something with Ginkotsu, Suikotsu was sitting down alone, thinking while Bankotsu was sitting with Jakotsu on a ledge, drinking sake.

Jakotsu looked at Bankotsu, feeling a lot more cheerful than he had before. He was glad the previous events were over.

Even though it had turned out she had been pretending to be in love with Bankotsu, Jakotsu had still been jealous. He wasn't going to said that directly, as there was no reason he should technically be jealous. At least, no reason he could think of without admitting he was in love with him.

He had accepted a long time ago that Bankotsu would never like him back, that it was unrequited and that he had to hide it. But that never meant he wouldn't still get jealous, unfortunately.

At the moment, he didn't want to dwell on that. That would ruin the moment, and it was quite a nice one aside from what had happened earlier. He took a sip of his cup of sake, deciding to stop thinking about it and observe the scenery.

As they sat back and watched the sunset, he appreciated the peaceful moment.

With a nice breeze which blew through their hair gently as they watched the beautiful sunset, undisturbed by anything in the slightest at the moment. And of course, being far away from Mt. Hakurei made the air feel fresher to them, for once they didn't feel sick at all..

It was nice. There wasn't a lot of times they'd be able to relax like this.


	21. Every Heart (Kagome X Sango X Ayame)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unexpectedly, Ayame runs into Kagome and Sango. Quite a few times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't have a lot of ideas, but I guess it has been a while since I written anything like this, really. I think next I might write a sequel to 'Secret Admirer' (Renkotsu x Ginkotsu

Ayame walked, wolves by her side, on the quiet night. She thought about everything that had happened recently, though there was so much. From that hair monster to that thing Koga had taken care of, and having met that girl, Kagome..

She stopped, sitting down by a river, which her wolves drank from.

Kagome was nice, but anyone could see she clearly wasn't really interested in Koga. That was something Ayame had been sure of. It was obvious, although it didn't seem as though Koga realized that. Or, Inuyasha, for that matter.

One of the wolves walked up to her and lifted her hand onto its head, so she began petting it while she took in the scenery. It was pretty, although it certainly wasn't anything close to the lunar rainbow. There were some small bushes of flowers, close by the trees, and the mountains were visibly in the distance. The night sky reflected on the water, which completed the scenery.

Ayame wasn't sure what to do anymore. Koga refused to marry her, as he was in love with Kagome now. But if she didn't marry him, how would the wolf tribes come together? It was the only way, wasn't it? Ayame had trained all her life, keeping his promise in mind. But now, as she realized it didn't mean nearly as much to him as it did to her, it made her consider finding a different solution. There had to be at least on alternative, right? When the wolf let her, she stopped petting it and focused on her thoughts, and everything she was worried about.

She took the flower out of her hair, gazing down at it as her fingers brushed against the petals.

Ayame hoped there was a way they could stop the tribes from fighting,

At the sound of footsteps approaching, Ayame turned her head cautiously, a bit surprised when it turned out to be Kagome and Sango. She had known they were near by, being a wolf demon, but she hadn't expected to run into them.

"Kagome." Ayame stated.

Kagome walked closer, smiling, as she sat down near Ayame, followed by Sango, "Hey, Ayame." She greeted, "How are things in the northern mountains?"

"Things are... Alright for the moment." Ayame said. Things had been quite eventful lately, with that Kyokotsu guy and all, and aside from that the wolf demon tribes weren't getting alone that well.

Ayame stared at the water, as the three of them sat in silence for a long time.

"How are things going with Naraku?" Ayame asked.

"He still has most of the jewel shards," Kagome answered, "The only ones we know of for sure are the one in Kohaku's back and the ones in Koga's legs. On top of that, he made a new incarnation. But we're getting closer and closer to defeating him."

The three of them talked for a long time, slowly becoming friends even if they didn't quite realize it.

Kagome seemed to be so positive about the situation with Naraku, as though she was sure they could defeat him. That was yet another thing about Kagome that Ayame would learn, and soon there would be a lot more..

After Kagome and Sango had left to go where they had originally intended, Ayame left a little bit later with her wolves. Surprisingly enough, that was only one of few times Ayame would happen to run into them.

The second time, she was just with Sango, who sat in a small field, deep in thought late at night. She certainly had looked beautiful there, as Ayame frequently noticed that Kagome and Sango tended to.

She had been in the area at that time, and they had ended up running into each other. She had sat near Sango, while they talked about several topics. She told Ayame more about herself, and she even learned the demon cat who was playing with her wolves was named Kirara.

"That's why I'm looking for Naraku with them," Sango explained quietly.

"I didn't know Naraku had done all of that."

Ayame hadn't originally known much about Sango, and she felt almost surprised how well the two of them got along, or for that matter how she got along with Kagome, considering Koga was in love with her. But yet, as Ayame and her talked that night, even though their conversation seemed insignificant, somehow it wasn't.

"That's why we're all working to defeat him.." Sango said, "Naraku has most of the jewel shards, so once we do we may be able to destroy it."

"Good luck." Ayame had smiled slightly, as the wind rushed through their hair gently.

The third time, she helped them in a fight against yet another one of Naraku's incarnations, which was quite different from the hair demon she and Koga had fought, who rode on a demon horse. Somewhere in the fight, he retreated and Naraku helped him get away with a demon puppet, alongside a variety of different demons, which she helped them defeat. Kagome and Sango were strong, in many different ways she noticed.

The fourth time, she was talking to Kagome again, the fox child and Inuyasha near her as she was heading home, bringing a strange contraption towards a well.

They had talked about a variety of topics, learning more about the other as the conversation continued, until eventually Kagome put the contraption (which she referred to as a 'bicycle') beside the well and jumped in, disappearing. The fox child, Shippo, calmly explained it to her afterwards.

It seemed, as the time passed, Ayame began to understand just why Koga liked Kagome so much, as she saw how strong, loyal and fearless she was. And then there was Sango, who was an incredibly strong person, not to mention her cleverness and bravery.

As they continued running into each other, the three ended up becoming closer until they were close friends, and then one day, maybe more.


End file.
